Research shows that the elite hitter does require a certain amount of upper body

strength. The 1-RM Bench Press is the most popular strength test used for the upper body.

However, does it correlate to bat speed?

One study [1] found that the 1-RM Bench Press does not correlate to muscle power

exertion in hitters. This is because the two movements involve two different movement

velocities.

However, if you’re a player who requires a good amount of upper body strength, then we

should first attack that weakness before worrying about how fast your bat speed is.

Not only has it been suggested that power hitters are superior in absolute strength, but

these same hitters are able to exert this strength in a small window of time in relation to

their bodyweight.

Power

Not only does the hitter need to have a strong lower half and upper body, but they need

to display this strength in the least amount of time, otherwise known as “power”

production.

As you may have picked up on already, strength is a pre-requisite of power. If you want

to become more powerful, you can probably kill two birds with one stone while

increasing your relative strength numbers.

One 12-week study [2] showed that the addition of medicine ball training alongside a

strength program increased both rotational strength and rotational velocity. Therefore,

power was also increased.

At Infiniti Sports Performance, we get very creative with our exercise selection

programming. Below is one of our most popular rotational power drills.

Speed

The main slogan for our Speed Academy is “Speed Kills”, which is definitely true in all of

sports. Becoming a threat on the base paths will make you an even more dangerous

hitter. Not only because you can put damage to the ball and the pitcher’s ERA, but you

could put yourself into scoring opportunities!

Within speed training, there are two different phases: acceleration and top-speed. As a

baseball player, believe it or not, you are in the acceleration phase of sprinting 99% of

the time and rarely ever reach the top-speed end.

Not many coaches specifically train to reposition the body after a batted-ball. After all,

the athlete must overcome a decelerated position to accelerate towards first base.

However, it is important for a baseball player to have speed-endurance. This is relatable to stretching out those singles into extra base hits, and actually scoring safely from a scoring position!

When training for absolute speed, it is important to take proper rest periods into account. For example, if we are training for base-stealing speed, and it takes us 4 seconds to complete the steal, then we should rest for at least 24 seconds (known as a 1:6 work-rest ratio).

If we are getting specific with our speed-endurance, such as getting from first to third, then we could decrease the amount of rest time or increase the amount of work time.

For speed training, we could focus on a few variables: stride frequency, stride length, 1st step mechanics, overload/underloaded or resisted/assisted training.

As you can see, most of a defensive player’s ability is based off of that first step. We

believe it is important to utilize a “prep” step when performing these speed and agility

drills because that is what the player will use in competition.

Reactiveness

Research shows that baseball players, on average, have a much better “decision time”

and reaction time in comparison to other athletes [3].

Not only are baseball players accustomed to having a quick reaction time to a stimulus,

but they are also adept in withholding the response to a stimulus. In other words, this is

known as having “strike zone recognition”.

Some research says that it is very difficult to truly decrease reaction time. However, the

benefits of adding this practice into your training is that it is not taxing on the nervous

system like the high-intensity lifts you are accustomed to.

Hand-Eye Coordination

Last but not least, we want to cover hand-eye coordination. When we perform any sort

of vision training, we want our athletes to understand that every muscle in the body has

fast-twitch fibers. Since there are small muscles surrounding our eyes, we can train those

fast-twitch fibers too!

As a baseball player, you use your near-far accommodation to become successful on the

field. Whether it is in the box or on defense, the player must track the ball from a far

distance to a near distance.

Whether you are an infielder, outfielder, or catcher, it is important that you develop the

necessary tools to become both an offensive and defensive threat to the opponent.

This P4 program is dedicated towards developing and polishing the hitters change of

direction ability on offense and defense, a base level of strength needed to hit the ball far

and throw the ball harder, exceptional hand-eye coordination to look silky smooth and

athletic, and rotational power to increase decision making time in the box.